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Archive for the ‘Biome’ Category

I think this exercise was very good. It was good to learn about all of the biomes. It is weird how the different animals can live in these places. Like polar bears, it is phenomenal how they can live in the arctic and not freeze to death. Also if they lived in any different biome they would die. It is unbelievable how most animals can survive, but also not be able to survive. I think humans are the only ones that adapt to new habitats quickly because all we have to do is put on a coat or something like that.

So recently in class we did a project on Biomes. We had to make a pretty little brochure and present it to the class. I had Temperate Grasslands which was fairly interesting and i liked learning about it. I certainly learned things I did not know previously. However, one thing about the project i did not like was that it seemed really rushed. It was very brief and the presentations were hardly memorable. Overall however, i think it was a fair project.

For the biome project that was presented to be in my biology class, I chose to learn about the temperate deciduous forests. I picked this one for only one reason really: I really enjoy being out in the woods, and so I wanted to learn a little bit more about the area that I spend a lot of my time in. I really enjoyed learning about this temperate biome to be honest. It is quite amazing how diverse the forest is. From its animals, all the way to its plant species, the forest has a wide variety of incredible sights to see. The biome I chose was not the only interesting one. I must say that the in-class discussion that we had really opened my eyes to the world around me. Other biomes, such as the tundra, savanna, and desert were all very interesting. I also enjoyed the discussion because it was outdoors, which made me feel a little bit more close to the biomes. I know, that sounds rather odd seeing as I was no where near a desert. I mean the deciduous forests, which are everywhere in New England. I think I will conclude with the statement that I actually did enjoy this project, seeing as it brought me a little bit closer to nature.

I had an idea prior to the biome project in biology class of how different parts of the Earth were from the others, but hearing from classmates on these major biomes was even more enlightening. I was introduced to many biomes that were more unique than I had guessed. The biomes also had some similarities with each other as well as differences. Because I had a prior interest in marine life and ecosystems, the aquatic(especially salt water) biomes really captivated me. The amazing range of life and unique biodiversity of oceans the world over are truly fascinating. The fact that so many unique species can live together in one body of water is astounding. The physical wonders of the ocean are also enthralling. The enormous underwater mountain ranges, deep sea trenches, and desert-under-the-sea look is beautiful.

It makes you sad to think that people are so careless about these delicate biomes and do truly stupid things like, say, drill in the Gulf of Mexico and accidentally have their oil rigs blow up, releasing millions of gallons into the water. It’s hard to imagine the loss of life that will occur due to this BP oil spill. Hopefully the people that care about the aquatic biomes of the planet will find a way to help.

For the brochure I had to research Freshwater Biomes. It was really interesting because I was able to learn about all the different animals that live in the freshwater biomes like: Turtles, frogs, some fish, crustaceans, snails, insects, and many others. I also learned about how valuable freshwater is to the world. Like how it supplies 90% of our drinking water, bath water, and irrigation for farmers. Not only did I learn about the freshwater biome, but also about the marine biome, deserts, savannah, rainforest (temperate, tropical), tundra, & grasslands. The class discussion on these really helped me understand and become aware of the different climates, animals, and plants of these biomes.

An assignment we had to do in biology last week was find information on a biome and create a brochure on it. I did marine biomes. Other people did freshwater, tundra, hot and cold deserts, rainforests, or other climates. Everyone’s project was very interesting. I got a lot of information from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php. Freshwater biomes consist of lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and wetlands. Before this project I did not know that freshwater areas actually do contain salt, although it is less than1%. My subject, marine biomes consist of oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries. I mainly focused on coral reefs because they are so interesting. The diversity of life in coral reefs is amazing. Thousands of different organisms live together. Before this project, I did not know that a coral reef is actually a mass of living things, called polyps. After they die a new one grows on the old ones skeleton. This is the way that coral reefs grow, skeletons building up, and a coral reef can grow around one inch per 100 years! Desert biomes are also very interesting. Deserts can be hot or dry. Most people think of deserts as hot, barren, sandy land, but one example of a cold desert is Antarctica. They are also semiarid and coastal deserts. Forest biomes cover about 1/3 of the earth. There are tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. Grassland biomes are another biome people did projects on. There are tropical grasslands, savannas, and temperate grasslands. Temperate means moderate, or not extreme. The last biome is the tundra. There are alpine tundra and arctic tundra. Tundra is the coldest of all biomes. I defiantly learned a lot from this biome project and think that earth science about populations and habitats are very interesting.

This biome discussion and research were very interesting, the biome that I did was the Hot Desert Biome. The ones that I was interested in were probably the Tropical Rainforest biome and the Deciduous forests. the tropical rain forest is very rainy usually and they apparently stay around 65 to 85 degrees all year round, while deciduous forests

( http://www.saburchill.com/chapters/chap00513f.html ) are cooler and have much different organisms living in it. Tropical forests have animals like tree frogs and what you would think of tropical creatures, while deciduous forests have organisms that would live in places like New England, which have bears and white-tailed deer. From my prospective I thought those two biomes were the most interesting, but of course the one I researched was also very interesting. This project was very interesting, but the only problem I saw with it was that people only really learned about the biome they were researching, also we did not have that much time to make these brochures.